Glave1: Good things come to those who wait.

Traveling Guest: Maybe so, but it's also likely that people would flock to Hammer because we know Tony didn't, as he put it, prioritize world peace and our soldiers still needed weapons to fight with. Agreed on Sif and Wanda. Killmonger is going to be a problem, but not as big as he was in canon due to the fact T'Challa knows he's coming.

TW: Thank you.

Gallifrey 22.3: Not yet but soon.

Guest: No, Beck does not exist. Nothing post Endgame is canon to this work. No, he really won't. Nothing was ever going to turn Killmonger back from the path he was on, and T'Challa is aware of this.

Wakanda

Morning

In the throne room, T'Challa was once more in a meeting with his council. As it was when he announced M'Baku's addition to the Council, the other members of the Council were not happy with his decisions.

"You wish to withdraw our War Dogs from Nigeria?" the Merchant Tribe Representative repeated in shock.

"Not from the entire country, just from Lagos," T'Challa said calmly. "I have received word that there may be an attempt to steal a dangerous nerve agent there in a few weeks. Should that be the case, I wish for our people to be a safe distance from Lagos."

"Where did you hear this?" the River Tribe Representative demanded.

"From a source I trust," T'Challa said, looking at the Representative with a look that spoke volumes.

And the Representative leaned back in their seat, looking properly abashed, realizing they had overstepped by demanding answers in such a way.

"My king, with all due respect, this may seem like paranoia and cowardice to our men," W'Kabi spoke up.

"The difference between paranoia and caution is in the eye of the beholder," M'Baku shrugged, getting a dirty look from W'Kabi in return.

"Perhaps it is paranoia, but I would rather be overly cautious than to allow our citizens to die needlessly," T'Challa said firmly. "We cannot involve ourselves in this conflict without making it an international incident, but we may save our people."

As he looked around the room, T'Challa knew his argument had swayed most of the council, save M'Baku, who didn't seem to care one way or the other. But T'Challa also noticed the angry look on W'Kabi's face and his heart sank. He knew he had to do something to ease W'Kabi's frustrations with him, lest W'Kabi become an enemy. He just wasn't sure what yet.

Avengers Compound

Same time/Early morning

In her bed, Natasha tossed and turned, her mind plagued by a now familiar nightmare.


It started as a familiar memory. Natasha was handed Lila when she had only been six months old, the first opportunity she'd had to meet the youngest Barton. However, as soon as the bundle was placed into her arms, it and the baby turned into dust.


Natasha's eyes snapped open and she sat up in bed, at first not realizing where she was. But as she woke up, she sighed as she realized she'd had the dream again. Third time this week.

It wasn't a dream that was new; she'd had it often enough over the years. But it had become more frequent since their trip through time, and Natasha knew why.

Natasha simply sat there for a moment before she threw the covers back and got up, figuring there was no use in trying to get back to sleep.


Later that morning, Natasha was in the gym, taking out her frustrations on a punching bag. She paused, taking a moment to catch her breathe when she heard someone enter the room behind her.

Even if she hadn't known him so well and memorized his walking pattern, she'd have known it was Steve. It was like something in her mind and body was keenly attuned to his presence.

"So what'd that bag do to make you so mad?" Steve asked gently as Natasha grabbed a towel from a rack.

"Just blowing off some steam," Natasha said dismissively.

"Awfully early to be this wound up," Steve noted as he looked at Natasha worriedly. "What's going on Nat?"

"It's nothing Steve," Natasha dismissed, trying to walk out only for Steve to block her path.

"I know we haven't defined what's between us, but I care about you Nat. If you're going through something, you can tell me," Steve told her.

Natasha stood there for a few moments, weighing her options. It went against all her instincts but a voice in the back of her mind that sounded suspiciously like Clint told her she didn't have to carry everything alone.

"There somewhere we can talk privately?" Natasha finally asked, not wanting someone in on them.


A little while later, Natasha and Steve sat on the roof of the Compound. It was silent for a few moments as Steve waited for her to start.

"About five months after I joined SHIELD, Clint finally decided he trusted me enough to know about Laura and the kids," Natasha finally said, her voice barely a whisper. "Lila was about six months old. When Clint handed her to me and I just…I don't know, it was like I finally realized what I'd lost, what the Red Room had taken away from me."

"I'm sorry. I can't imagine what that was like," Steve said, his heart going out to her and she smiled weakly.

"No, I don't think anyone could unless they'd been through it," Natasha said and there was a brief pause as Steve waited for her to continue. "After that, I started having this…recurring dream. It was always the same, Clint handed me Lila and then she just…turned to dust. It went on for months to the point I almost stopped sleeping. Clint finally got so worried he went to Fury, who ordered me to see a SHIELD psychiatrist."

"And they were able to make the dream go away?" Steve asked skeptically.

"No, but they were able to help me figure out what the dream meant," Natasha said with a heavy sigh, wondering how she was going to explain it to Steve. "It was my subconscious trying to tell me that…I would have been a terrible mother, that I would only destroy any child I would have had. I had already proven that by allowing the Red Room to sterilize me."

"Nat, you can't honestly believe that," Steve said in disbelief and she shrugged.

"Maybe once. Now…I don't know," Natasha said and there was silence between them for a long moment. "I still had the dream from time to time, but I was able to sleep…until recently. Every since we got back, I keep having it, just three times this week."

Silently, Natasha reached inside her jacket and pulled out a vial of purple liquid, to Steve's confusion.

"Barton gave this to me before he sent us back. According to him, Thor came back from the Guardians with some medical herbs that he gave to Wakanda because he didn't trust the American government with them. Allegedly, if I drink a few milligrams of this for a few nights, it'll heal me," Nat explained and Steve immediately understood.

"That'll let you have kids?" Steve asked and she shrugged.

"So he said. I haven't taken any of it yet," Natasha admitted and Steve was silent for a long moment.

"And that's why you keep having the dream again. You still think you'll destroy any child you may have," Steve noted and Natasha didn't deny it. "Nat, do you want kids?"

"Ever since the day Clint handed me Lila," Natasha said softly. "But I'm an ex assassin who routinely puts her life in danger. What kind of mother would I be?"

Steve was silent for a long moment, thinking over everything that Natasha had said and trying to put his thoughts into words.

"Did I ever tell you about my father?" Steve asked randomly and she looked at him oddly.

"Can't really say you have," Natasha said, wondering where he was going with this.

"Well, there's a reason for that, I told everyone he died before I was born in World War One, but that wasn't true," Steve said, surprising Natasha. "But it was easier to tell a lie than to explain the painful truth. I never told anyone this except Bucky.

"My father survived the first Great War as we called it back then. But the man who came back wasn't my father. He was an unhinged, abusive drunk who took his demons out on me and my mother for years until he finally drank himself to death, leaving me and my mother without a way to support ourselves and to deal with all his bills," Steve explained, to Natasha's horror.

"Steve…I'm so sorry," Natasha said and Steve merely shrugged.

"It's not your fault. We're all responsible for our own actions, and my father was responsible for his. But that's not why I'm telling you this," Steve said as he looked Natasha right in the eyes. "I know you Nat, I know who you are. I've seen your strength, your kindness; I've seen your heart. So believe me when I tell you that you are a thousand times the person my father was. I'm not gonna tell you what to do, but I have no doubt in my mind that you will be an amazing mother if that's what you want."

Natasha stared at him silently; mulling his words over in her head. It wasn't anything different to what Clint and Laura had told her over the years once she'd confided in them about her dreams, but it felt different with Steve. When he told you something, you believed him.

"Thank you," Natasha said softly.

Then, before she lost her nerve, Natasha leaned over and did what she'd tried to do before Thor had returned. Steve didn't stop her and their lips met.

It was different than any kiss she'd ever had, Natasha noted silently. It wasn't passionate and for show like with Bruce or rushed and all-consuming like it had been with Bucky, worried someone could walk in on them at any moment. It was very like Steve, gentle yet firm but like he was holding himself back, as if afraid to take advantage of her in this moment.

"And for what you said about earlier, about not defining our relationship?" Natasha asked softly as she pulled back. "We don't have to define it. Isn't it enough that I love you and you…care about me?"

Natasha's voice wavered slightly, against her will as she reached the end of her sentence. Steve stared at her silently and Natasha wondered what he was thinking. It was usually so easy for her to read him but in that moment, he was like a closed book to her.

"For now. It's enough for now," Steve agreed, smiling slightly and putting Natasha at ease.

Wakanda

Afternoon

"No. I am sorry my friend, but my answer is no," T'Challa said calmly, his face a show of remorse.

"I do not understand. You know this nerve agent is going to be stolen, why not send me and some of our men to deal with the threat once and for all?" W'Kabi protested, not understanding T'Challa's reasons.

"Politics is a complicated game W'Kabi. The entire world is watching me, waiting to see what kind of king I will be. If my first act after announcing what we really are to the world is to send my men to a foreign country in which Wakanda has no jurisdiction to deal with a foreign threat, people in power will accuse me of being an invader," T'Challa explained. "I have given the people best equipped to deal with this threat the proper information."

"And that is the Nigerian government?" W'Kabi asked skeptically and T'Challa was silent for a long moment.

"I am king now my friend. There are things I cannot share with you. But trust that I am doing what I believe to be right for not just our people, but for the world," T'Challa said, meeting W'Kabi's gave evenly and a beat passed between them.

"Of course. My king," W'Kabi said a respectful bow to T'Challa.

W'Kabi then exited the room and T'Challa stared after him, sensing W'Kabi's disappointment. The rift between he and his friend was growing wider. He just hoped that by capturing Klaue, T'Challa could prevent W'Kabi's betrayal.

This chapter focused more on relationships than plot, but I do hope you guys enjoyed it anyway.

The Steve/Natasha talk where she brings up the fertility potion as I'm calling it is something I've been planning for a while but couldn't find a good point to bring it up. As I've said before, I don't consider myself a godo writer of romance or drama, so hope I did okay there.